A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 09: Arranged in Systematic Order: Forming a Complete History of the Origin and Progress of Navigation, Discovery, and Commerce, by Sea and Land, from the Earliest Ages to the Present TimeKerr, Robert
History
A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 09: Arranged in Systematic Order: Forming a Complete History of the Origin and Progress of Navigation, Discovery, and Commerce, by Sea and Land, from the Earliest Ages to the Present Time
Kerr, Robert
Voyages and travels
The 5th June we came to anchor in Saldanha bay, having only buried three
or four men since leaving England, out of our whole fleet, and had now
about thirty sick, for whom we erected five tents ashore. _Corey_[162]
came down and welcomed us after his manner, by whose means the savages
were not so fearful or thievish as at other times. They brought us
cattle in great abundance, which we bought for shreds of copper. Corey
shewed his house and his wife and children to some of our people, his
dwelling being at a town or _craal_ of about an hundred houses, five
English miles from the landing place. Most of these savages can say _Sir
Thomas Smith's English ships_, which they often repeat with much pride.
Their wives and children came often down to see us, whom we gratified
with bugles, or such trifles; and two or three of them expressed a
desire to go with us to England, seeing that Corey had sped so well, and
returned so rich, with his copper suit, which he preserves at his house
with much care. Corey also proposed to return with us, accompanied by
one of his sons, when our ships are homeward-bound. On the east side of
the _Table_ mountain there is another village of ten small houses, built
round like bee-hives, and covered with mats woven of bent grass.
[Footnote 162: Corey, or Coree, was a savage, or Hottentot chief; who
had been in England.--_Purch._]
"The land at the Cape of Good Hope, near Saldanha bay, [Table bay] is
fertile, but divided by high and inaccessible rocky mountains, covered
with snow, the river Dulce falling into the bay on the east side. The
natives are the most barbarous people in the world, eating carrion,
wearing the guts of sheep about their necks, and rubbing their heads,
the hair on which is curled like the negroes, with the dung of beasts
and other dirt. They have no clothing, except skins wrapped about their
shoulders, wearing the fleshy side next them in summer, and the hairy
side in winter. Their houses are only made of mats, rounded at the top
like an oven, and open on one side, which they turn as the wind
changes, having no door to keep out the weather. They have left off
their former custom of stealing, but are quite ignorant of God, and seem
to have no religion. The air and water here are both excellent, and the
country is very healthy. The country abounds in cattle, sheep,
antilopes, baboons, pheasants, partridges, larks, wild-geese, ducks, and
many other kinds of fowls. On the Penguin isle [Dassen or Robber's
island,] there is a bird called penguin, which walks upright, having no
feathers on its wings, which hang down like sleeves faced with white.
These birds cannot fly, but walk about in flocks, being a kind of
mixture, or intermediate link, between beast, bird, and fish, yet mostly
bird. The commodities here are cattle and _ningin_ roots; and I believe
there is a rock yielding quicksilver.[163]The Table mountain is 11,853
feet high.[164] The bay is full of whales and seals, and is in lat. 33°
45' S."--T.R.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account